This week I decided to experiment with iMovie to edit my Meal Prepping video. I’ve used iMovie before because it’s usually user-friendly, especially on my iPhone. However, I wanted to explore different resources to make cutting my video easier and cleaner. In the past, I would crop my clips directly in my phone before importing them into iMovie, but this time, I followed a tutorial to learn how to do it within the app.

I’ve used Time Lapse before when filming, but this time, I recorded myself in real time and needed to speed it up. Unfortunately, iMovie only allows a 2x speed increase, and I wish there were faster options to make my video shorter and more engaging. On the bright side, adding clean transitions was simple, and I appreciated how seamless that process was. I also attempted a voiceover for the first time, which turned out to be trickier than expected. I wanted to start and stop at multiple points, which took more time than I had anticipated.

One downside of iMovie is its lack of an auto caption feature for accessibility. If you want captions, you have to type them manually. To work around this, I used the text feature to display ingredients and steps as I went along, which was extremely time consuming. Additionally, while iMovie offers a variety of music options, none of them stood out to me like the selections in apps like CapCut or TikTok, which offer actual songs. Most of iMovie’s tracks were instrumentals, or I had to pay for Apple Music songs.

Overall, my experience with iMovie was positive—it remains user-friendly and convenient on my iPhone. The biggest challenge is sending long videos via email, and transferring them to my computer for editing would have been an extra step. Having a free, built-in app that lets me edit directly from my phone is a huge advantage.

This Week’s Meal: Street Corn Chicken Bowl

This meal was simple, easy, and delicious! I really enjoyed the video tutorial I followed because not only was the process visually clear, but the ingredient list was also provided in the caption, making it easy to follow.

I continued experimenting with different filming angles using a tripod, which did slow down the cooking process. One thing I realized is that investing in better lighting would improve the clarity and brightness of my videos.

I’ve stuck with the habit of prepping ingredients and clearing my counters beforehand, and it has significantly sped up my meal prep. I’m finding the process much less daunting, and I’m even starting to look forward to choosing our next meals. One area I need to improve is meal prepping for dinners in advance. Right now, we tend to decide on dinner the night before or the same day and then run out to grab groceries. Ideally, I’d like to plan our meals for the week and buy everything in one trip. If I prepped the veggies, spices, and sauces ahead of time, it would make weeknight cooking so much easier.

Ingredients:

For the Chicken:

• 1.5 lbs chicken breast, cubed (I had shrimp, my wife had chicken)
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• 1 tbsp oil to marinate

Street Corn Salsa:

• 2 cups corn
• 1/4 cup light mayo
• 1/4 cup Cotija cheese (we used vegan feta)
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 jalapeño, finely diced
• 2-3 tbsp chopped cilantro (we forgot this!)
• 1 avocado, cubed (added fresh, not pre-mixed)
• 1 tsp Tajín (optional)

Groceries from Superstore:

• Chili Powder: $2.50
• Canned Corn: $3.00
• Bag of Avocados: $6.99
• Lime: $0.99
• Jalapeño: $0.49
• Chicken Breast: $11.72
• Plant-Based Feta: $6.99

Grand Total: $32.68 + tax

I highly recommend this meal—it was so good that I was excited to eat more the next day!